A 24-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder for allegedly targeting a registered sex offender. James Lewis Spencer III was apprehended by the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force on Wednesday without incident, as stated by Houston police.
On the morning of May 29, 2023, a passerby driving in the 900 block of Northwood Street alerted 911 after discovering a lifeless body in the ditch, later identified as 37-year-old Sean Connery Showers. Surveillance footage in the area revealed that a vehicle arrived around 3:50 a.m., halted briefly, and then discharged numerous “automatic-like” shots before speeding away, according to a search warrant.
Investigations uncovered Showers’ phone beneath his body, indicating he had arranged to meet someone at Montie Beach Park. According to Rehman Merchant, the chief prosecutor for the 179th District Court, Spencer and Showers communicated via a social media app with conversations of a sexual nature, wherein Spencer purportedly posed as an underage individual.
Showers had previously pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in 2009 and was sentenced to 30 months in prison, subsequently required to register as a sex offender for life. In 2019, he received a two-year prison term for failure to comply as a sex offender.
Following phone records that led investigators to Spencer, his girlfriend mentioned he had made comments around the time of the murder regarding pedophiles. According to Spencer’s bail order, a third party reported that Spencer expressed dissatisfaction with law enforcement’s efforts against pedophiles and considered robbing and harming such individuals.
Spencer’s phone was tracked to and from the murder site, and he confessed to being there “a few times,” records state. The district attorney’s office filed a motion to have Spencer held without bond, citing his existing bond for a controlled substance possession charge in Brazoria County.
“This is a planned execution,” Merchant remarked. “He targeted an individual, arranged a meeting, knew where he would be, discharged a weapon multiple times, and then returned home as if nothing happened.”
Spencer is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 5.
